


Mermaid Musings

by tronjolras



Category: Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë
Genre: F/M, POV First Person, Picnicking and honeymooning by the sea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-25
Updated: 2014-07-25
Packaged: 2018-02-10 08:36:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2018310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tronjolras/pseuds/tronjolras
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jane let's her fancy fly as she and her husband of five days picnic on the beach.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mermaid Musings

The weather grew gloomy as our honeymoon went on. The day we arrived in Calais it was sunny, as was the day after, but the third day the grey began. Despite the lack of rain, the sea was so very stormy and grey, as grey as my dear Mr. Rochester's eyes I would venture. I told him this and a smile cracked across his scarred face. He sat a few paces behind me next to an emptied picnic basket on a checked blanket while I stood on the skirts of the tide.

The hem of my dress became increasingly soaked as I failed to outrun the waves. What it must feel like to be completely immersed in the tossing sea, the water filling every pore and saturating my hair, to be able to swim like a fish and have iridescent scales. Letting the wind take my fancy I wondered how I would look if I was one of those fairy tale creatures gliding about under the water. 

"What are you thinking about, Jane?" Mr. Rochester's voice startled me out of my fantasy. 

I turned around, feeling a little guilty for abandoning him for so long. He looked past me with a heartbreaking concern. Even though it had been sixth months since I found him at Ferndean and five days since we married, I believed that a part of him still believed he was dreaming me. I sat so that we were close enough to assure him I was there. "I was jus thinking of silly things." I leaned against his left arm which he still kept self-consciously pressed beneath the breast of his coat. 

"Like what?" he asked. He looked relieved as he felt me press against him. 

"Mere frivolity," I insisted, embarrassed by my felicity.

"Please Jane," he said quietly, "take me on one of your flights of fancy." The gloomy skies brought out the lines in his face.

"I was just imagining what it would be like to… to be a mermaid."

"A mermaid? Like in the stories you used to read to Adele?"

I laughed a little, happy at the memory. "Yes, like in the stories."

"What would you do as a mermaid, dear Janet? You don't seem like you would lure sailors to their deaths—perhaps ugly, old men." He let out one of his harsh rasps of laughter.

"I would not," I agreed. I felt it was prudent not to indulge in his self depreciation, hoping with all of my heart that he would soon grow out of it. "I think I would speak to all of the animals. Whales must have such fascinating stories."

"Wouldn't you become lonely though, without a companion of the same species?" He finally let his handless arm rest on his lap and I took to stroking the hair away from his ear. I felt a deep satisfaction as he inclined his head toward my touch.

"We would travel the oceans together," I continued. "We would swim with the tides, feel the water in every pore of our bodies and feeling utterly weightless. 

"Just you and I riding dolphins and chatting with whales." There was a deep, genuine smile on his face now.

"Some sea life is regenerative, maybe mermen are too?" I mused, cradling the abrupt ending of his arm.

His smile faltered.

"Then gain, there are no fires in the sea," I amended hastily. I felt him relax and I returned to stroking the grey hair at his temple.

"Just you and I, Jane?" he asked anxiously.

"Yes, my dear Edward, just you and I."

**Author's Note:**

> For Andrea.


End file.
